Wasn’t it great to have a full slate of afternoon NFL games on a Saturday? I enjoyed watching the NFL on Christmas Eve and with the games today plus playoff scenarios becoming clearer, the Sunday Night Football game for Week 17 has been decided. It’ll be the Dallas Cowboys-New York Giants playing for the NFC East Division title with the winner going into the playoffs and the loser most likely going home for the offseason. It marks the first time that NBC will have had both games of a division rivalry in the Sunday Night Football package. At least the first time I can recall.
With both CBS and Fox getting a doubleheader on New Year’s Day, the NFL has flexed Baltimore at Cincinnati, Cleveland at Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay at Atlanta to the 4:15 p.m. ET late window.
Still to be determined are Carolina at New Orleans and Chicago at Minnesota. Both will be set after Sunday and Monday Night Football are done.
As it stands, we have six 4:15 p.m. games and NFL RedZone and DirecTV’s Red Zone Channel will be busy hopscotching through the contests next week. That will be quite fun to watch.
We have the NFL press release for you.
WEEK 17 FLEX SCHEDULING:
COWBOYS-GIANTS TO BE NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL GAME ON JAN. 1;
RAVENS-BENGALS & BROWNS-STEELERS MOVE TO 4:15 PM ET ON CBS;
BUCCANEERS-FALCONS TO 4:15 PM ET ON FOX
PANTHERS-SAINTS & CHICAGO-MINNESOTA ON FOX TBDThe Week 17 Dallas Cowboys at New York Giants game on Sunday, January 1 will be played at 8:20 PM ET on NBC, the Baltimore Ravens at Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers at Cleveland Browns games will move to 4:15 PM ET on CBS and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Atlanta Falcons game will move to 4:15 PM ET on FOX, the NFL announced today. Game times for the Chicago Bears-Minnesota Vikings and Carolina Panthers-New Orleans Saints afternoon games on FOX will be announced following results of the Week 16 Sunday and Monday night games.
Following is the Week 17 NFL schedule (asterisk and bold/italics represents changed game time, **denotes game time pending outcome of Sunday and Monday night games):
SUNDAY, JANUARY 1 (WEEK 17)
DETROIT AT GREEN BAY
1:00 PM (ET)
FOX
TENNESSEE AT HOUSTON
1:00 PM (ET)
CBS
INDIANAPOLIS AT JACKSONVILLE
1:00 PM (ET)
CBS
N.Y. JETS AT MIAMI
1:00 PM (ET)
CBS
BUFFALO AT NEW ENGLAND
1:00 PM (ET)
CBS
WASHINGTON AT PHILADELPHIA
1:00 PM (ET)
FOX
SAN FRANCISCO AT ST. LOUIS
1:00 PM (ET)
FOX
CHICAGO AT MINNESOTA**
TBD
FOX
CAROLINA AT NEW ORLEANS**
TBD
FOX
SEATTLE AT ARIZONA
4:15 PM (ET)
FOX
TAMPA BAY AT ATLANTA*
4:15 PM (ET)
FOX
BALTIMORE AT CINCINNATI*
4:15 PM (ET)
CBS
PITTSBURGH AT CLEVELAND*
4:15 PM (ET)
CBS
KANSAS CITY AT DENVER
4:15 PM (ET)
CBS
SAN DIEGO AT OAKLAND
4:15 PM (ET)
CBS
DALLAS AT N.Y. GIANTS*
8:20 PM (ET)
NBC
The NFL utilizes “flexible scheduling” on Sundays in Weeks 10-15 and 17 to ensure quality matchups in all NFL Sunday time slots.
That will do it. Enjoy your Christmas or Hannukah holiday.
